And charles e



(No Model.)

T, W. LANE an o. E. LEE. ELECTRIC GAS L/IGTING APPARATUS.

`'1\To.'41=99,297. Patented June 13, 1893. I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. t

THOMAS W. LANE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AND CHARLES E. LEE, OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 'ASSIGNORS TO THE ELECTRIC GAS LIGHTING COM- PANY, CF PORTLAND, MAINE.

ELECTRIC GAS-LIGHTING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 499,297, dated .Tune 13, 1893.

Application led February 8, 1892. Serial No. 420,683. (No model.)

T all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS W. LANE, of Boston, Massachusetts, and CHARLES E. LEE, of Chicago, Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Gas-Lighting Apparatus,(particularly in that variety shown and described by J. P. Tirrell in Letters Patent No. 232,661, of September 2S, 1880,) of which the following is a'speciiication.

Our invention relates to improvements in the Tirrell apparatus particularly in the devices for oscillating the movable lever by which the gas-cock and electrode-arm are controlled. In such apparatus as is shown in the Tirrell patent, a fixed electrode is placed in close proximity to the burner; a movable electrode is carried by one arm of a twoarmed metallic lever, one arm of which is vertical and the other horizontal. This twozo armed leveris attached t o a gas-cock of the ordinary form which is to be tilted back and forth to open and close the valve. This twoarmed lever is operated in the Tirrell apparatus by means of a horizontal slotted lever 2 5 in which one arm of the two-armed lever plays and to each end of which horizontal lever a chain is attached, the whole operating to turn on the gas and ignite it upon pulling one chain and to extinguish the gas by pull- 3o ing the other.

Our improvements relate, as has been said, particularly to the method of operating the two-armed lever. In place of the horizontal slotted bar shown by Mr. Tirrell and the other devices which have' been used by other inventors, we have ,provided devices which we will now explain, by referring to the drawings in which- Figure 1. is a front view of the burner 4o when closed. Fig. 2. is a front View, twice enlarged,of the burner when open. Fig. 3. is a partial side View twice enlarged. Figs. 4. and 5. are details, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of our burner.

We may use a lever-arm, connected to an electrode-carrying arm; but we prefer to make both in one piece with an expanded surface at the angle; and so have the two arms E, F, rigidly attached to the gas-cock X, at 5o their angle, and have a cam piece e, with its oit-set e', covering anotoh 1, and beyond the notch 1, a stud-shankf, soldered at the base of the angle of the lever-arms E, F, and beyond this stud-shank, the metal of the leverarm, E, is turned up in the earf, leaving a su'icient space between the ear f', and the .stud-shank f, for the passage of the bent end g of the pawl-spring G. The lower base of the angle of the lever-arms is cut away, enabling the projections 2, 3, to come against a pin 4, which pin may be also used as a straining point of the coiled spring H, fastened to the pin 8 on arm F, by which the ygas-cock is closed. Below the two-armed lever, there is a block I'piv'oted to the side of the burner, having an adjusting screw 5, and two pins 6 and 7, above and below the same. About this adjusting screw is fastened a pawl-spring G,

vbearing against the lower pin 7, and curling over the pin 6, at the proper angle, namely, so that its bent end g shall be normally in such relation to the ear f', that when the lever-arm F is moved by pulling it, by a cord K or otherwise, opening the gascock, and lifting the ear, 4 said spring G will be carried sidewise until the gas-cock has been so far oscillated as to bring the wiping electrode E into and nearly out of contact with the xed electrode B, and the bent end g into line with the notch 1, near the angle of the levers E, F, and the electrodes will separate making a spark, as this end g falls into the notch 1, and catches against the offset or lip e; and when the stress from the pull of the hand is withdrawn, and the coiled spring H, pulling upon the lever, tends to return the level, the bent end g of said pawlspring G will catch under the stud-headfand so hold the gas-cock open as shownin Fig. 3. But when, in order to shut oft theA gas, the lever F is again pulled down, the bent end g of the spring G- will pass between the stud-head f and the olf-set or lip e (as shown in a detail in Fig. 5), allowing the bent end g of the spring G to pass by and outside of the studheadfand earf and so'bring the bent end 95 g just back of the ear f', and allow the twoarmed lever to be returned to normal position by spring H, and the gas-cock to be closed.

In a pending application for Letters Patent of the United States, T. W. Lane has 10o shown a construction for such burners by which an operative and economical piece of apparatus is obtained without devices operating to hold the gas-cock open against the continuous stress of a spring, that is, devices whose operations relieve the spring of any stress except during the opening or closing of the gas-cock.

The apparatus whose construction and operation is herein explained, differs from that of both the original Tirrell patent and the aforesaid improvements upon it; in that it uses a spring-stop, or detent, to hold the gascock open, to do which requires some counter force against the tension of the closing spring to hold the cock closed. This has been, we are aware, done by applying to thelever-arm in this variety of apparatus, the catch or latch Well known and frequently applied in mechanics, in which lthe hand of the operator as it draws down upon the lever end of the two-armed lever also brings a catch or latch into operation.

Under our present invention we have improved the operation of the original Tirrell burner, and without resorting to this well known catch, which may probably be within Mr. Tirrells suggestion in his specification that any other suitable device may be used for oscillating the movable lever instead of the lever B.

Our improved devices, or constructions, do not operate either as the bar B of the original Tirrell burner, nor as the catch or latch variations above alluded to, inasmuch as our devices are self-acting and automaticin their operation, and require no guidance from the hand of the operator, inasmuch as the bent wire spring G is so adjusted as to respond to every motion of the two-armed lever in such way as to either hold the gas-cock open by a prop and not by a catch, or to enable the coiled spring to certainly close it, and we are not aware that such devices for operating the two-armed lever have ever before been used.

Having described our invention, we do not claim so much of this burner as is shown in said Tirrcll patent and improvements, but what we do claim is as follows:

l. In an electric hand lightingr gas-burner the two-armed metallic lever constructed with the cam-piece e, oft-set e', notch l stud-shank f, ear f', and with the attaching post or pin 8, and the projections 2 and 3, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the two-armed lever,

of an electric hand lighting gas burner having the cam-piece e, off-set e', notch 1 stud-shank j", earf', pin S, projections 2 and 3, the bent pawl-spring G, one end g free to gear with the aforesaid constructions, and the other rigidly attached to the gas burner, all so constructed and combined that said spring will hold thc gas-cock open when the gas is lighted, substantially as described.

3. In an electric hand lighting gas burner, in combination with a,gasburner having a gas-cock, a fixed electrode, atWo-armed lever constructed as described, one arm to carry the movable electrode and the other arm to be used as a lever, a pawl-spring having a bent end free to gear with said lever, a coiled band spring tending to hold the gas-cock normally closed, all constructed substantially as described, so that upon opening the gas-cock, the two-armed lever may be retained in such position as to leave the gas-cock open, and upon again pulling the lever-arm the gas-cock may be closed, by the retractile spring substantially as described.

4C. In an electric hand lighting gas burner, the combination of the burner, fixed electrode, two-armed lever controlling the gas-cock and carrying an electrode, substantially as described, the pawl spring G, and a catch adapted to co-operate with said pawl-sprin g to hold the gas-cock open, coiled spring for holding the cock normally closed, all constructed and operating substantially as shown.

5. In an electric hand lighting gas burner, in combination with the gas burner, having a fixed insulated electrode and a tilting gas-cock and a two-armed lever rigidly attached to the stem thereof, one arm adapted to be used as a lever and the other to carry a wiping electrode, and a coiled spring for normally holding said gas-cock closed, self-acting, automatic devicescomposedof pawl-spring G, stud-shank f, ear f', cam-piece e, off-set e for holding the gas-cock open against the stress ot' the coiled spring at each alternate movement.

January 20, 1892.

THOMAS W. LANE. CHARLES E. LEE.

\itnesses to the signature ot' Thomas W. Lane:

WILLIAM H. LEONARD, STEPHEN A. FOSTER.

Witnesses to the signature of Charles E.

Lee:

E. L. Scorri?, GEo. E. ZIMMERMAN. 

